Laying Low

Devin sent a quick text to Danny when he wasn't busy to see if he could find anything on a young woman named Elizabeth Hale who had been murdered but was never solved. In the mean time he tried to see if that was any hint of relatives or anything. It was rather a shame they died so young, people like that seemed to die early he noticed.

There was no mention of a family or of any relatives and she always said that she lived alone. But she had a few friends. There were many pictures and videos of them. They were happy and doing things friends usually did.

Im the background of most of her later pictures and videos, was the silhouette of the same looking person, always in the shadows where you couldn't see his face, and yes. It was a he. However, in one picture, there was a part of his arm and lower body and on the back of his hand was a tattoo of some kind, but the image was too small to see of what.

"So how is the hunt going so far?" Ava interrupted Devin's thoughts as she went to sit down.

Devin didn't look their way as he continued. "So, so. Found a suspicous looking person though. Prime suspect of things. They have a tatoo, gonna see if I can save and blow up the spot. Maybe I'll be able to see something."

Devin finally gets a reply from Danny saying he'll be gone for a few days and that he would call around and see what he can do.

Luckily, the phone that Elizabeth's friend was using had an Outstanding camera on it. It easily had to bea 100mp Ultra Vision camera that could capture large details of the Moon! Because upon blowing the picture up, the Tattoo was clearly visible.

Devin saved the picture of the tatoo and put it away for later. "I got something but I don't know what or if it means anything. You see it before?"

Ava shook her head. "No. I'm sorry to say it doesn't ring any bells. Its a start though right?"

"Yeah." Devin didn't think he'd find anything further at the moment so he closed his laptop. "I'm gonna take a break and get back it before too long. Most everyone else at the moment is busy at the moment but it feels like I'm close to something."

Tracy was at the library studying when all of the sudden All of her animal instincts started to scream that there was danger close by and she perks up, wide-eyed, and looks around. She doesn't See anything, but she knew, with every fiber of her being, that she was no longer safe at the library!

She quickly gathers her things and heads out, even though she knew she would be exposing her back to danger. But it was better than staying put for the moment.

There was a law that came with Zoanthrope registration: they could Only change into their beast forms when reacting to dangerous situations, was for work, or in there own homes. Tracy felt that This, was one of those times and she tries to change into her beast form (a bloodhound), but nothing happened! And Now, she was starting to panic, this had never happened before!

Devin doubted the library would have anything matching the tatoo, but people would be surprised what you'd find others would just dismiss in quick fashion. Ava decided to come since two heads looking for something were better then just one.

On their way they saw Tracy who seemed more panicked then normal about something which was a bit troubling but neither saw anything out of the ordinary. "Hey Tracy, what's wrong?" Just in case he kept his guard up and Ava probably did the same. Tracy wasn't hard to scare but she usually wasn't This jumpy without a reason, but again there didn't seem to be anyone.

Tracy being a normal young woman who is usually thrown into abnormal circumstances, reacted as she always did when startled, her hands went up, her things went flying and she let out a "WAHHH!!" that would make certain evil, purple plumbers proud. And speaking of evil, she couldn't feel it anymore.

She turns to see Devin and Ava, which she clearly didn't before. She was breathing like she just ran 20 miles "O-oh... hello you two..." she huffs and puffs as she picks up her things "I... just felt like... the library wasn't the best place for me, at the moment..." she mumbles, not making eye contact. Which, for Tracy, meant she wasn't telling the truth. She was the worst liar.

Ava was a bit tense and guarded, Devin hadn't noticed as much simply because he had been focusing on Tracy. That said, he really didn't buy her excuse. He went to help her pick up her things along with Ava.

"There is, or was something here to set off my instincs that's dangerous. Just not sure what.." Ava hadn't seen anything but that didn't mean everything.

"All right, its obvious something going on. If Ava felt it, you did. We're your friends Tracy if you got issues we can help. How about just hang around me and Ava for a bit until we figure what's going on? Its better safe then sorry." After the whole shadow debacle and other track record of things, Devin would feel better if Tracy wasn't alone.

Though why a otherwise normal young woman was always attracting stuff he didn't know. It happened a bit too much to be a concidence but if there was something to it, he didn't know it.

Tracy nods slowly "I, suppose you're ri...ght..." she trails off as her breath starts to puff out in front of her as it got noticeably colder.

And it wasn't just Tracy who noticed either. Some of the other students also noticed it and some pulled out their phones "Oh, dude! Check it! There's totally something there!" one says as he shows his friend.

"Oh snap! That looks like a girl, but she's totally floating!" he says to his friend, sounding excited.

Devin frowned at this. "Probably ghost presence.. Let's keep it moving." He mumbled noticing Ava was a bit agitated then normal as well by her body language as she kept close to Tracy. He was wondering if it was, it was Elizabeth trying to communicate again so he did take out a phone to see if he saw anything.

Tracy had No problems leaving, but when she noticed what Devin was trying "Those guys are from the Paranormal Researchers Society. They have the latest Paragon Phone that comes equip with infrared sensory cameras so they can see hot and cold spots." she explains.

Devin thinks for a moment. "Gonna talk them for a sec, Ava stay with Tracy I'll be back."

"Will do." The young woman said.

Devin went up to them. "Hey there. Sorry for the left field but heard you guys were apart of Paranormal Research Society . Have you just recently seen a woman that looks like this?" He got his phone to show Elizabeth to them.

One of the guys shoos Devin away "Not now, dude. There's a Real live ghost, right Here!" he says as he shows Devin the image his thermal camera app was picking up. It certainly Looked female, but it was various shades of blue, dark blue, and black. Indicating that it was very cold and this ghost points in a direction, before fading away and the two guys start to geek out with each other.

The picture didn't do anything for Devin but it had been worth a shot to see. Then again, he supposed even if it had been without a way to interact or talk with them it would of been useless. "You two are busy so I'll let you go."

He went back to Ava and Tracy, the later who turned to them. "That was fast, didn't go well?"

"Wasn't what I thought and realized it was kind of useless for what I had in mind to begin with and they were busy focused on their outing"" He might send them that tatoo picture to see if anyone of that club knew what it was. There was no clue what so ever it Was supernatural but didn't hurt in this case. Most vampire races were strong in their own right, so who ever killed Elizebath probably was to.

One of the paranormal geeks nods the other and they both look in the direction the ghost pointed and they head off.

Tracy shrugs "Oh well. Looks like we're gonna need Danny and the Ruto sisters to handle this." she says as she chuckles a bit nervously.

It was no secret that Tracy disliked the paranormal and did her best to avoid it when possible and This situation was no exception.

Ava shrugged a bit. "Not much for it at the moment. Right now you're the focus. Since me and Devin are escorting you for the rest of the day, is there any place in particular you need to go?"

The Ralphlim didn't say anything, simply because he had nothing to say but was in agreement with Ava; where ever Tracy wanted to go they would go to.  It was out of his control but he did wonder if him being around when Elizabeth was attacked would have made a difference and she still be alive where she Should of been stll. It was hard to say since they were a complete unknown and he had no idea what they could do. Cases like this always bothered him even after all these years dealing with them.

Tracy nods "Uh, yeah. I need to pick some things up for dinner tonight and then I need to pick up Cassia from school a little later." she says. She still felt off about the whole encounter.

Devin saw not much of a problem with that. "All right, lead the way to whatever grocery store you need. Until this thing blows over and we figure out what's going on you and Cassia are under our protection."

Ava didn't say anything but she really wished they had more to go on with their investigation like a motive. Was it maybe just a lone nut case that simply wanted to test himself? Maybe they hated vampires? Or perhaps it Was someone Elizabeth knew, maybe even someone they rejected and they didn't take it well. Could be anything and that was the annoying part.

Tracy nods absently as she keeps heading towards a convenience store that was close to her apartment. She wondered, not for the first time, why all this strange stuff kept happening to her.

Ever since she found out that one of her first roommates was the infamous serial killer Cedrick Darkside (who now runs a fortune five-hundred company with Calvine Mort), her life just hasn't quite been the same. She even went to Japan to get away from this madness, but it followed her there And back!

And now, she was hanging around a group of paranormal detectives! This was the complete Opposite of a normal life!

She stops by the store "I'll be right back. It shouldn't take me long. Cassia likes fish, so that's what I usually get her." she says as she heads on in.

Tracy was good with Cassia. For himself the question if he wanted to be a parent or not went a bit back and forth; he wasn't sure if he make a good parent, On the other hand one never knew until it actually happened but regardless it wasn't something that was going to happen anytime soon.

Part of Devin didn't want Tracy to go inside by herself, but maybe he was being too cautious. He and Ava could guard them without smothering them and they should be fine in a crowded store. "All right, we'll be waiting outside."

When she left, Ava spoke up a bit. "Something bothering you?"

Devin shook his head. "I'll be fine. Just cases like always bugged me I should be immune to it by now but I'm not." He also was gonna have to talk to Danny about something, when he came back that is.

The front of the store was a big window, so it was easy to see what was going on inside. Tracy was hovering around the frozen foods section, getting some milk, frozen fish stick, and a few other odds and sodds.

After about fifteen minuets, she comes wandering out "Okay, I just need to head back home, put this stuff away and then head off to the Hunter school to pick up Cassia." she says as she starts back towards her apartment building.

Devin briefly considered if maybe the Circle of the Rose was behind the Elizabeth's death. With what she was, she would of been on their target list but it didn't feel like it was them. The fact the Hunters likely investigated and found nothing led to that, but still no proof. Besides the fact they had been quite so long for the most part for a bit, he felt there would of been a bigger hint it was them. If nothing else to rub salt in Hunters wounds they hit a dead end case and they knew it was them behind it.

No. While some parts made sense, he wasn't entirely sure it added up. It was pointless speculating with so little to go on.

When Tracy returned, he nodded a bit while Ava spoke up. "So how has the little one been doing at school? She made some friends there I hope."

Tracy shakes her head "Not really." she mumbles "Most kids either tend to stay in groups with their own kind, or just be by themselves." she points out, and since Cassia was the only one of her kind at the Hunter school, there was no one for her to hang out with, which was pretty sad.

It doesn't take Tracy long to get to her apartment. She looks back to Devin and Ava "I'll be right back. It shouldn't take me too long to put this stuff away." she says as she heads into the building, letting the other two in as well. But she wasn't really gonna let them into her apartment. It was a bit of a mess at the moment.

Ava blinked a bit to that. "..Really? I was kind of under the impression from my experience here that a decent amount of non humans were a bit more open to others similar."

"Depends but not entirely wrong, works that way as a defense mechanism if nothing else." Devin said, somewhat distracted by his own internal thoughts. "Though don't know too much how that school besides that it exist. So couldn't tell you why the kids there are like that."

He was wondering if this Elizabeth was one of Alden's kids. The old man had passed away unfourtnately so he didn't know the new folks. Even they had, it was probably private information normally but they might be willing if it meant solving a murder mystery. He was going to do that soon.